Green Day: Saint Patrick's history
It’s nearly time to put onyour green outfit, pin a shamrock to your chest and drink a Guinness. Or two.
Monday is St. Patrick’s Day, the day to celebrate all things Irish. If you’re not Irish, that’s OK: On St. Patrick’s Day, we can all be Irish.
Who Was St. Patrick?
He might not be who you thought he was.
His name wasn't Patrick
His name was Maewyn Succat. Only later did he change his name to Patricius.
He wasn't Irish
Succat was born in Britain to an aristocratic Roman family around 390 A.D. He lived a life of comfort until he was 16 years old, when he was kidnapped and sold into slavery in Ireland. For sevenyears, he tended sheep.
Eventually, Succat escaped, found passage on a pirate ship back to Britain and reunited with his family. In the meantime, however, he had found religion. He became ordained as a priest, moved back to Ireland and devoted his life to converting the Irish from paganism to Christianit
He wasn't a saint
According to the Catholic Church, Patrick was never officially canonized. Which means he’s not a “saint.”
He didn't drive the snakes out of Ireland
In fact, there never had been snakes in Ireland. Snakes are cold-blooded creatures and can’t survive in a cold environment. Fossil records of Ireland show no snakes at all, ever.
Patrick baptized thousands of Irish people and helped drive the pagan Druids out of Ireland. Historians feel the Druids in that true story somehow got turned into snakes.
How We Celebrate St. Patrick's Day
Those pretty green shamrocks
According to Irish legend, Patrick used the three-leafed shamrock to illustrate the Holy Trinity — the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit — to his listeners when he was first teaching them about Christianity.
The Shamrock is not to be confused with a four-leaf clover. If it’s got four leafs, then it’s not the right plant.
The color green
St. Patrick’s color of choice wasn’t green, it was a light shade of sky blue. Green didn’t become a symbol of Ireland until the Irish Rebellion of 1798 — British soldiers wore red, so the Irish wore green to stand out.
Getting pinched for not wearing green
It’s a tradition that folks who don’t wear green on St. Patrick’s Day get pinched. One reason floated for this is because leprechauns supposedly play pranks on people who don’t show sufficient support for the Irish.
Celebrating the day
St. Patrick’s Day was a minor religious holiday in Ireland, in which families would celebrate with a big meal. It was in the American colonies that St. Patrick’s Day became a big deal, with Irish soldiers fighting — on the British side, naturally — in the Revolutionary War. One of the earliest St. Patrick’s Day parades was held in New York City in 1762.
Eating corned beef and cabbage
This is more of an Irish-American tradition than an Irish tradition. Irish immigrants to the U.S. in the 19th century found corned beef was cheap and readily available in New York from butchers serving the Jewish communities, but it had been in shorter supply — and, therefore, a luxury item — in Ireland. They found cabbage was pretty cheap as well.
Also, for what it’s worth: There’s no corn in corned beef. Back before refrigeration was common, meat was packed with salt to help it last longer. This wasn’t table salt — these were larger grains of salt referred to as “corns.” So “corned beef” is actually beef treated with salt.
Drinking beer
Most pubs in Ireland were shut down by law on the holiday. The beer industry made a huge push in the late 1970s to change that.
The Chicago River Runs Green
Credit: choosechicago.com
Every year since 1962, the city has used about 50 pounds of dye to turn the Chicago River green for the city’s annual St. Patrick’s Day parade, which is usually held the Sunday before St. Patrick’s Day.
While the formula for the dye is top-secret, the dye is spread into the river by the local Plumbers Union ... using ordinary kitchen flour sifters.
The dye itself is bright orange. It doesn’t turn green until it’s in the water.
Each dye job lasts for about five hours.
Doesn’t the custom harm the environment? Not really, the executive director of the local environmental advocacy group, Friends of the Chicago River, told National Geographic.
The dye is reportedly vegetable-based and harmless — especially when compared with, say, output from sewage treatment plants.
St. Paddy's Day 2025
